Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation
Periodic Labour Force Survey  – Quarterly Bulletin [January – March 2023]
- Introduction
Considering the importance of availability of labour force data at more frequent time intervals, National Sample Survey Office  launched Periodic Labour Force Survey  in April 2017.
The objective of PLFS is primarily twofold:
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- to estimate the key employment and unemployment indicators  in the short time interval of three months for the urban areas only in the ‘Current Weekly Status’ .
- to estimate employment and unemployment indicators in both ‘Usual Status’  and CWS in both rural and urban areas annually.
On the basis of the data collected in PLFS, five Annual Reports of PLFS corresponding to the periods July 2017 - June 2018, July 2018 - June 2019, July 2019 - June 2020, July 2020 - June 2021 and July 2021 - June 2022 covering both rural and urban areas giving estimates of all important parameters of employment and unemployment in both usual status  and current weekly status  have been released.
Besides these Annual Reports, seventeen Quarterly Bulletins of PLFS corresponding to the quarter ending December 2018 to quarter ending December 2022 have already been released. In these quarterly bulletins estimates of labour force indicators, viz., Labour Force Participation Rate , Worker population ratio , Unemployment Rate , distribution of workers by broad status in employment and industry of work in the Current Weekly Status  for urban areas have been presented.
The present Quarterly Bulletin is the eighteenth in the series for the quarter January – March 2023.
PLFS fieldwork during the quarter January – March 2023
The field work for collection of information in respect of the samples allotted for the quarter January
- March, 2023 was completed by 31.03.2023 for the first visit samples as well as revisit samples.
Canvassing of revisit schedules is undertaken mostly in telephonic mode since June 2020. The information was collected over the telephone for about 96.4% of the revisit schedules during the period January -March, 2023.
These aspects may be kept in mind while using the estimates of PLFS for the concerned quarter.
- Sample Design of PLFS
A rotational panel sampling design has been used in urban areas. In this rotational panel scheme, each selected household in urban areas is visited four times, in the beginning with ‘First Visit Schedule’ and thrice periodically later with a ‘Revisit Schedule’. The scheme of rotation ensures that 75% of the first-stage sampling units 1 are matched between two consecutive visits.
- Sample Size
At the all-India level, in the urban areas, a total number of 5,726 FSUs  have been surveyed during the quarter January – March 2023. The number of urban households surveyed was 44,982 and number of persons surveyed was 1,72,089 in urban areas.
- Conceptual Framework of Key Employment and Unemployment Indicators for the Quarterly Bulletin: The Periodic Labour Force Survey  gives estimates of Key employment and unemployment Indicators like the Labour Force Participation Rate , Worker Population Ratio , Unemployment Rate , etc. These indicators, and ‘Current Weekly Status’ are defined as follows:
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- Labour Force Participation Rate : LFPR is defined as the percentage of persons in labour force  in the population.
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- Worker Population Ratio : WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population.
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- Unemployment Rate : UR is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force.
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- Current Weekly Status : The activity status determined on the basis of a reference period of last 7 days preceding the date of survey is known as the current weekly status  of the person.
- The Quarterly Bulletin for the quarter January – March 2023 is available at the website of the Ministry . The key results are given in the statements annexed.
1Urban Frame Survey Blocks  are the smallest area units taken as first-stage sampling units  in urban areas for PLFS.
Annexure
Key Findings of PLFS, Quarterly Bulletin 
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Statement 1: LFPR  in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above
all-India
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survey period
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Male
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Female
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Person
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|

|
|

|
|

|
|

|
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January – March 2022
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73.4
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20.4
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47.3
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April – June 2022
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73.5
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20.9
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47.5
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July – September 2022
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73.4
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21.7
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47.9
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October – December 2022
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73.3
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22.3
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48.2
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January – March 2023
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73.5
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22.7
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48.5
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Statement 2: WPR  in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above
all-India
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survey period
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Male
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Female
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Person
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|
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|
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January – March 2022
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67.7
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18.3
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43.4
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April – June 2022
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68.3
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18.9
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43.9
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July – September 2022
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68.6
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19.7
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44.5
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October – December 2022
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68.6
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20.2
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44.7
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January – March 2023
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69.1
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20.6
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45.2
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Statement 3: UR  in CWS in urban areas for persons of age 15 years and above
all-India
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survey period
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Male
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Female
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Person
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|

|
|

|
|

|
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January – March 2022
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7.7
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10.1
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8.2
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April – June 2022
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7.1
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9.5
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7.6
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July – September 2022
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6.6
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9.4
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7.2
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October – December 2022
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6.5
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9.6
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7.2
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January – March 2023
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6.0
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9.2
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6.8